Strung Out Again :-D

Since Roll Roll Cotton Boll, I find I'm being "strung out" again, working with 1-1/4" strips for my UFO #6! I've got lots and lots of strips cut from Thimbleberries fabrics, and I'm chain-piecing log cabins out of neutrals and rich dark colors.

I'll be sewing on UFO #6 all week, including Thimbleberries Sew Day that Sandie hosts on the last Wednesday of every month at Crazy 'bout Quilts!  I'm constructing log cabins and fans to make "American Heritage" -- a pattern from Simple Blocks Make Sensational Quilts by Winnie Fleming.   As I've played with the blocks, though, I've changed my mind about the design.  Winnie's quilt sets the blocks straight turning fans and logs to make diagonal lines and curves.  I've decided to put my blocks on point....

Winnie's American Heritage

 

And I, Miss "I-don't-care-for-the-strings-look" find that the controlled scrappiness of the logs really appeal to me -- especially marching along in even rows. 



My "new" take on the log cabins and fans



This is my first log cabin! Some twenty years of playing around with quilt-making and I've never made a log cabin!  So this project is not only a UFO but a long-overdue quilting rite of passage! :-D



And I'm totally in the mood to sew after a wonderful retreat at the Jabez Quilt Conference.  I taught three classes, and in them renewed friendships from previous years and made new friends that were wonderful!

There were the "Northern Girls" -- a family of quilters that come from northern KY (just this side of the river from Cincinnati!) which includes Rose, Nancy, sister-in-law Patti and this year, their mother Esther! They always bring beautiful fabrics and we manage to rib each other mercilessly.  They are such fun!

Cathy, sweet soul, took ALL THREE of my classes!! Brave, brave woman!! A very accomplished and generous quilter, she blessed me tremendously with her can-do attitude and patience when we found my cutting instructions for a block in my sampler were completely wrong! Quilters are a very forgiving lot, thank the Lord! :-D

A new friendship was born with Caterina, a brand new quilter who emigrated from Italy back in 1960.  Upon her retirement, she's taken up quilting.  An accomplished seamstress and needleworker (she brought some samples of her lace from the old country!), she's taken to quilting like a magnet!! What fun she was to teach!

In the evenings, I had a room all to myself and was able to sew into the night, just like at home! :-)  I cut and assembled 14 more blocks for the Farmer's Wife, bringing my total up to 25. 

As much as I enjoy my solitary sewing time, it's not nearly as much fun as sewing with my friends.  My daughter tells me I'm an extrovert.  I get energy being around people.  And that's certainly true if they are quilters!!

Wise old Solomon wrote, "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

My friends, old and new, warmed me this past week.  I look forward to the next time I'm blessed with their company.  I'm so thankful that I can count them and you among those who "help me up" and, along with the Lord Jesus, make up that three-strand cord!

Lord knows, I'll need strength to get UFO #6 completed in the month of January! :-D

Blessings,

I almost forgot!! LuAnn at Loose Threads sent me the "Stylish Blogger Award!"  Thanks so much, LuAnn!  I'm supposed to share eight things about myself and nominate eight blogs for the award.  Pop on over to my "Awards" page to check that out!

Quilts are a many splendid thing...

Polly Taylor, a wonderful quilt teacher from Jonesborough, TN, visited our guild last week, and we enjoyed doing the splendid "Twice as Nice" Quilt-in-a-Day pattern with her.  The pattern had something for everyone -- easy enough for the beginner, fun enough for old hats like me and some of the other gals! :-D

What amazed me is how different all our tastes were!  As we finished the first of the three blocks the pattern makes out of a strip set of 3 fabrics, Polly displayed them on the board for everyone to see:

It was a day of  experimentation for me.  I used some fabric that all my quilt buddies universally agreed isn't "me."  In fact, I'd submitted several class options for consideration of the Jabez Quilt Conference (coming up in January 2011, check http://ces.ca.uky.edu/rockcastle/ for updated information in the coming months), and the director of the program called me up and asked me if all my quilts were brown!!! (Well, in my defense, brown IS the new black, right!?!)  

I tend to favor a darker, muted color palette! Give me civil war repros and Thimbleberries and Kansas Troubles!  So using the Folklorique line from In the Beginning fabrics, was a REAL departure for me.

I'm thinking the blocks turned out pretty well! In addition to the two blocks pictured, there were also about 12 nine-patch blocks -- all these from 36--2 1/2" strips!  The Folklorique line also had a fabulous folk-art border print that I may use between rows....I'm still deliberating and experimenting on the design wall.

Whoa! COLOR! The brights sang to me! :-)

We had everything represented in the class.... My brights, some Thimbleberries, batiks, civil war repros, '30's repros, fun Moda lines and people using up their scraps. All different and beautiful and inspiring.

It reminded me of a verse I read in 1 Corinthians 15:41.  Paul is talking about the resurrection, and the difference between our mortal and immortal bodies.  As he's explaining the difference, he uses a celestial analogy that expresses perfectly the differences between quilts! :-) 

"The sun," he says, "has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor."

Is that cool or what!!?! My star isn't meant to shine like everybody else's! My star has its own glory, its own splendor, its own beauty.  That's why my quilts don't look like yours.  Your quilts don't look like Suzy Q. Quilter's down the street.  All the quilts we view in Paducah and Podunk and everywhere in between are not for comparison, since they all have their own kind of splendor!  They are our inspiration as we find our own way to shine in the universe.

And while quilts and their creators may have very little in common, we can be sure that the same Creator made us all, and His is the Spirit in the beauty.  He is the Master of color and design and splendor! 

All that glory and splendor are a direct reflection of Him.  I'm so glad I know Him!!

Do you know Him, too?

Blessings!

Mary Lou